


"No, no. It's My Treat."

by impulse_baker



Series: 100 Ways to Say 'I Love You' [3]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Castiel is a Sweetheart, Dean is Bad at Feelings, Fluff, M/M, Pining, because these boys suck at communication, duh - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-03
Updated: 2017-12-03
Packaged: 2019-02-10 01:46:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12901329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/impulse_baker/pseuds/impulse_baker
Summary: Dean hates when Cas leaves. He absolutely hates being separated with no definite end. So when Cas asks Dean to get lunch with him, Dean gives zero fucks that he is an entire state away and hauls ass to join him. Totally platonic, right?





	"No, no. It's My Treat."

Realistically Dean knew that it was too much to expect Cas to always stick around with them at the Bunker or join them on hunts. He knew it was too much to ask a powerful being like an angel to confine themselves to sharing an existence with two hunting brothers. God, how he wanted to just ask him to stay. Surely, he knew how much Dean liked having him around. But of course, it made no sense to him for Cas to want to do boring things with the Winchesters.

Reasoning with himself didn’t make any of it suck or hurt any less. An hour ago, Dean was sitting in the Library with a cup of coffee, warming his hands, leisurely reading _The Silmarillion._ Cas had walked in and Dean gave him a lazy smile, happy to see the angel at the start of his day. He offered him a cup of coffee but Castiel declined, saying he needed to go attend to some angel business. Dean made a move to get up and told his friend he would go with him to help, get it done faster _so they could come back home sooner._ But of course, the hunter left the last part out. His help was rejected graciously and all he parted with was a barely-there smile and a quiet farewell.

 _How long will it take? Will you be ok? Text me. Call me when you get time. I’ll miss you._ Maybe he would have said these things aloud if Castiel lingered a moment longer. Maybe he would have gotten up and patted his back. Perhaps he would have even stolen a quick hug, just to have something to hold on to until he returned. Unfortunately for Dean, Cas departed as soon as _see you soon, Dean_ came out of his mouth. Perhaps it was for the best.

Now, an hour after he left, Dean was only half paying attention to what was going on with Beren in the story. All he could think of was whether or not Cas had enough gas money, if the credit cards he had were still working, if the douche bag angel he was going to meet with was safe to meet with alone, and most of all, _would Cas ever stay?_

 

Dean was in the garage, doing a maintenance check on some of the cars that none of them used. It was kind of a pity that these beauties were locked up in here, not seeing the sunshine or the open road, but they didn’t really need any of them when they had Baby. He was wheeled under a Thunderbird when his phone rang.

Joy wasn’t a sufficient word to describe what he felt when he saw Cas’ name flash on the screen. He didn’t think he knew of a word or enough words to do the feeling justice, but _I’m a high school dropout, obviously._

“Heya, Cas. How’s it hanging?”

“Hello, Dean.”

Neither one of them said anything for a minute. Dean didn’t know what he expected him to say at first. _I’m not allowed to have expectations of him. None of it is mine to want._

“How are you?” Cas broke the silence.

“Can’t complain.” He let out a breath and wiped his forehead with the back of his free hand. “On my back under this gorgeous piece of work.”

There was another pregnant pause.

“Are you…Dean, did I interrupt you having intercourse?”

He barked out a laugh and almost banged his head against the axil when he threw his head back.

“Oh _fuck_ no. I’m too good of a lay to be answering calls while I’m blowing my lady’s mind.”

“Oh. Alright. I apologize in advance if I ever do call at an inopportune time in the future.”

“Hey, man.” _I’m lying._ “You’re alright.” _I would pick up your call._ “I know you always have something important for me anyway.” _I would drop everything for you._ “You don’t have to worry about all that, anyhow.” _I’d want it to be you._

“I did not call you with anything of import. I just…called to say hello, I suppose. To check in.”

“Hell, that’s as important as anything, dude. How is it going? Any closer to getting it taken care of?” _When are you coming home?_

“Yes we have made some progress but it will still take a few days. Another Rit Zien has surfaced and while they have not killed anyone, we still need to ensure their safe return to Heaven.”

“Be careful. The last one of those shit heads almost killed you.”

“Ephraim was lost, Dean. He was scared and vulnerable.”

“Leave it to you to empathize with the son of a bitch who tried to kill you.” Dean muttered.

“I must go, now, Dean. I will speak to you again, soon.”

“Take care, Cas. Just…” _Please come home safe._ “Let me know if you need anything.”

They usually talked a little longer, but Dean couldn’t be upset that Cas had things to do. At least he called. He would take that. He was grateful for whatever he could get.

 

Cas called and texted sporadically for the next few days while Sam and Dean took care of two back to back hunts. They were both simple salt and burns, but it temporarily eased Dean’s itch to do _something_.

They had just returned when Dean got a text.

_Cassss: We have downtime in Hastings. If you are still in the area, perhaps we could meet?_

Hastings was around 60miles away, but if Cas wanted to meet, Dean wasn’t going to let a few miles stop him. _Besides_ , he reasoned with himself, _I could grab a bite to eat right now._

_Dean Winchester: Yeah, I’ll text you when I’m close. Gotta take care of something real quick. Won’t be long._

_Cassss: OK_

Usually the drive takes a little over an hour. Dean made it in 45minutes. He arrived at the diner Cas texted him about and as if he had a homing beacon on the angel, he was immediately drawn to him, sitting in a corner booth in the back, facing the exit.

“Hello, Dean.” His trench coat rustled as he stood, and his hands awkwardly patted his sides as if he meant to do something else with them. His movements made Dean think that maybe he was going in for a hug, and well, what the hell. Hugs were ok after not seeing each other for a few days. He balled up his fists against Cas’ back to keep from rubbing softly up and down the sturdy plane of muscle like he wanted, but denying his greatest desires was what he was great at, apparently.

“Good to see you, pal.” He whispered as he pulled back to sit on his side of the booth.

“You as well. I was actually worried that maybe you had already returned to the Bunker, but I’m glad you were still nearby.”

“Oh. Yeah, pretty lucky, huh?” He lied.

A young waiter came and took their orders, and despite not needing to eat, Cas liked to keep up appearances and have extra fries and pie for Dean to pick off of.

When their food was brought, the waiter kept looking up between the two of them shyly, darting his eyes back and forth but never making contact, and he hurried off as soon as the two of them assured him they didn’t need anything else.

“Must be his first day.” Dean mused aloud.

“Why do you say that?”

“Poor kid seemed pretty nervous. Didn’t you see the way he was acting?”

“No, my attention was elsewhere.” Cas’ gaze wasn’t calculating anymore when it rested on Dean, now. He didn’t feel like he was being evaluated and weighed and valued. He wasn’t under laser scrutiny. He was being _looked upon_ , like in a Jane Austen novel. Which he only read out of boredom, of course. Multiple times.

He diverted his attention back to his burger because he honestly couldn’t deal with all of that right now, he had just sat down with the guy, for crying out loud. To his dismay, there were neither onions, nor any bacon, and it had swiss cheese instead of pepper jack. Maybe another day it wouldn’t have been worth going up and asking for them to fix it, but he told himself he came here to get food with Cas. Food, being the main point. He had to stand by that, and if he let a mediocre burger get by, then it would be clear that he came driving like a maniac to sit with Cas for an hour, and no other reason. So, no. He wasn’t going to just settle for an unionless, baconless, swiss cheese burger.

He set the plate on the bar counter and explained the mistake to the same waiter that was serving them. The poor guy looked mortified and promised to get the correct order out right away.

When he slid the plate across to Dean he kept his hand out and finally looked up at him.

“I umm…I think you guys are really brave. I’m going to be as good as you one day, but I’m still too scared to go out with my boyfriend in public. It’s really cool of you. So just, thanks. I don’t see a lot of couples like me around here.”

 _Boyfriend?_ He should have told him the truth, set the record straight. Like, ‘no-homo, totally hetero, female women only’ straight.

“You’re ok, kid. Go at your own pace. Just, be honest with yourself and with your partner, and everyone else can shove it, because they really don’t matter.” That was ultimately the right thing to say, even if it was entirely hypocritical. But he wasn’t going to be the one to bring the kid down. So he returned with his new burger feeling good and listened to Cas tell him about the Rit Zien’s trail and human they had befriended and how right now they were making the decision to stay or go. Castiel was strongly in favor of them staying, having understood the desire to coexist with their Father’s greatest creation. But the angel he was working with was still trying to persuade them to return to the Host.

Dean wondered if Castiel had ever said the exact words to him in a sentence. He supposed he didn’t need to. The idiot chose him over an entire army, for fuck’s sake. He didn’t know how much more clear the message could be. But his insecurities dictated that he doubts his good fortune and constantly live in expectation of abandonment. _Enjoy the moment as you get it. It ain’t gonna last._

When the check came an hour later, both hunter and angel made a reach for it.

“Dean I asked you to accompany me, today. I even have enough for gas. Let me.”

If it hadn’t been the first time he sat down with Cas in so many days, he might have some kind of joke about being a cheap date or being easy or something crude to completely downplay the significance of their time together. But he wasn’t going to be that guy today.

“No, no. It’s my treat.” Firmly, he dragged the bill towards himself with the pads of his fingers and handed it back with a large tip for their smiling waiter. “Gotta treat him right, right?” He winked at the kid who was looking between them with bright eyes, and motioned for Cas to get up and leave with him.

Parting was his least favorite part, but at least he got another hug and a murmured promise of being home soon to hold on to until his angel came back.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed it! Let me know what you think!
> 
> Previous part: "It Reminded Me of You."  
> Next part: "Come here. Let Me Fix It."


End file.
